Going Compact (Revisited)

In an earlier post, I discussed the virtues of going compact.  At the time, I had primarily ridden compact cranks  and hadn’t spent any significant amount of time on a standard crank.

However, all of this changed when I purchased my (now destroyed) Specialized Tarmac SL3.  The Tarmac came stock with standard 53-39 crank and I found myself enjoying the feel of the new crank for one reason: the small chain ring.  A compact crank typically comes with a 50-34 setup on the chain rings, and I often found that the 34 was simply too small for my preference.  I found that I would rarely use the small chain ring on my Pinarello unless I was going up a major hill because it was simply too dramatic of a shift from the large chain ring for me.  With the 53-39 setup, however, I felt that the transition between the two chain rings was easier to make.  Maybe it’s just me, but I know I preferred it more.

With this experience, I decided to go with a standard crank on my Serotta and I’m loving it so far.  Based on my experience using both cranks, I’d like to re-visit some of the points I raised in the earlier post regarding benefits of going compact:

1. Easier climbing.  [Original post text: The smaller gear ratios make it easier to climb.]  While the gear ratios may be smaller with a compact crank, I have actually found that my climbing has improved since I started using a standard crank.  Why?  I have no idea.  All I can tell you is that I’m pushing up hills better now (at 210lbs) than I was when I was in shape (and weighed 170).
2. Reduced weight.  [Original post text: The compact crank weighs less than the standard crank and you can get maintain similar climbing with a smaller, lighter cassette (e.g. an 11-23) versus needing to carry a 12-25 or a 12-27 with a standard crank.]  One word for this insight: stupid.  The weight difference is so minuscule that I can’t believe I even raised this point.  This comment belonged on the Weight Weenies blog.
3. Closer gear ratios.  [Original post text: Closely related to the previous two items, the larger your cassette span is the more your gears are spaced out.  A standard 12-25, for instance, has a gear ratio of: 12-13-14-15-16-17-19-21-23-25.  A 12-23, on the other hand, has a gear ratio of 12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19-21-23.  On the 12-25 cassette you are skipping the 18 cog in exchange for the 25 with the result that the biggest 5 cogs in the cassette all skip at least one tooth.  Not that big of a deal except when you’re looking for a very minor change in gearing. ]  Again: stupid. Although there is some merit to the discussion (particularly where you’re talking about a very hilly course), I just don’t think this is a big enough issue to dictate which crank you choose.
4. Reduced knee stress.  [Original post text:  Pushing the big crank is hard on knees, but the compact crank reduces this stress a bit.  This was one of the biggest reasons I chose the Pinarello over the Cervelo P3: my knees (old football/wrestling injuries) hurt on the P3 from about two minutes into the ride whereas they rarely hurt on my compact.]  This is probably the most valid point from the slowtwitch article.  I did feel knee pain when I test rode the P3.  I also had some knee pain when I rented a Look 585 (with standard crank) in Kona to ride the Queen K.  However, I’ve yet to feel any knee pain on either my Specialized or my Serotta.  Whether this has more to do with the fact that I’m not running right now or the fact that these bikes were dialed-in for me, I can’t tell you.  All I know is that I’m as comfortable on these bikes as my Pinarello.

In summary, I guess the point of this post is to say that cranks are all a matter of personal preference.  I think both have their own merits, but personally, I’ll be sticking with a standard crank from here on out unless injury or pain dictates otherwise.

3 days down; 63 to go

I’m three days in to my 66 day re-commitment to training at least 30 minutes a day for 66 days.  They say it takes 66 days to form a habit, so I’m looking to re-form mine one day at a time.

This past holiday weekend was a good start to the training: 3 rides, over 4.5 hours of ride time and approximately 76 miles logged.  I tackled some pretty decent hills, enjoyed the weather and, overall, simply enjoyed being outside again.  My legs are definitely nowhere near where they were back in late 2008 / early 2009, but I’ll get back there.  My hope is to utilize my extra weight right now to build up the power in my legs and then maintain that power once the pounds fall off.  Fat has to be good for something, right?

This week, I’m continuing the trend of staying active by taking my bike to work.  I bought a used Serotta Legend TI a few weeks back and just finished the build on Saturday morning.  I have to say, the bike rides like a dream.  It’s not quite as snappy as the Specialized Tarmac S-Works SL3 that I had before (until it met an untimely death on my roof rack), but it’s as comfortable as any bike I’ve ever ridden and is definitely more responsive than bikes that use a lower-grade carbon weave.  For commuting purposes, the titanium is perfect – there’s no way I would have put my Tarmac on a train, but the titanium is indestructible, so it works great as a dual-purpose bike.

Commuting by bike is definitely a freeing experience.  I can categorically say that I hope that I never, ever, have to ride the bus again.  I’ll take the rain/elements over being treated like cattle any day of the week.  It definitely makes the office a little more bearable, too!

Here’s to a great (short) week for everyone!

Missing in Action: My Departure and Planned Return to My Journey

It has been over two years since I stopped actively training for triathlons.  January 2009, to be exact.  Prior to that I was actively working with a coach, Jim Vance in San Diego, was logging plenty of hours in the three disciplines, and was in the best shape of my life.  I was weighing in at about 170 pounds and had 8% body fat.  I had a plan worked out for the 2009 season, which included a few 70.3 races and a full Ironman at the end of the season that I had already paid for.

Then, January 2009 came around, and I met the woman that I fell in love with immediately and end up marrying the following year.  Now, just over two years later, my wife and I have a beautiful baby girl and I’m happier than I’ve ever been.

The only areas of my life that I’m not completely happy with right now are my physical fitness and this lingering feeling that I failed myself by giving up on my dreams of completing an Ironman.  Meeting my wife pushed training down on my list of priorities.  In the evening, all I wanted to do was spend time with her, so I would skip a training session.  Then, we’d end up staying up late and I’d be too tired to make my training session in the morning before work.  I was completely consumed and, in retrospect, although I could have done it differently, I wouldn’t trade that time with her for anything in the world.

And so was the downfall of my training.  By the time the I fell victim to the Great Recession, I had lost most of my fitness gains and put on 15-20 pounds.  I truly regret not using the extra time on my hands during this period of unemployment to pick the sport back up, as the training would have done wonders for me mentally, but I was too depressed to do anything that reminded me of my former life.  Triathlon was one of those things.

After losing my job, we moved to San Jose and spent the next several months travelling and lounging around the house while we looked for jobs.  I eventually found a job in San Francisco the following year, and I’ve been with my current firm ever since.  That brings us to today.  .   I commute to San Francisco each day from San Jose (about 1.5 hours RT) and my wife and I have been married for a little over a year.  My daughter has made me happier than I thought I ever could be and most every aspect of my life – personally and professionally – is going amazing for me right now.

It’s my fitness that needs improvement.  I’m now 30 and have only worked out sporadically over the past two years.  The last time I jumped on the scale, I thundered in at about 215.   And every time I see a story about triathlon, watch a cycling event on television,  or even see a weekend warrior riding a bike with aero bars, all I can think of is that I need to get back into the sport.   Get back into fitness.

So, today, I’m announcing my renewed commitment to triathlon.  Only, this time, I’m going to try to think about it a bit differently.

Last time around, my training almost felt like a second job.  I was a slave to it and every day felt the same.  I’d wake up early to go for a swim or run before I had to get ready for work, I’d go to work for 10-12 hours (I’m an attorney with a large law firm), commute home and immediately do a second workout (typically bike or run), then eat dinner.  By the time my day was done, it would usually be around 9p, and I’d only have an hour or two to unwind before I had to go to sleep so that I could wake up early the next day and start the whole thing over again.

This schedule, quite frankly, will not work for me this time around.  My wife and my daughter mean too much to me for me to spend this much time out of the house, so I’m going to have to figure out a way to squeeze everything in.  Further, even though I was happy with my progress and felt good after the training sessions, I wasn’t having fun.  I realize now that I was training angry and that I was out to prove something.  I’m not quite sure what I was trying to prove or why i was trying to prove it, but that anger and burning fire inside of me went away when I met my wife – nothing else mattered to me when I met her.

This time around, I’m going to do it for the right reasons:

- My health.  I want to grow old enough to watch my grandchildren start their own families – something my grandparents never got the chance to do.  I know that both my physical and mental health will improve significantly once I start training again.

- My daughter.  I want her to know that anything is possible when you commit yourself to it.  I want her to dream big and to want more out of life than what many people settle for.

- My wife.  I want to be an even better husband to her than I am now (and she’ll tell you I’m pretty amazing..haha) and I know this is the only aspect of my life that I’m not happy with at the moment.

- Me.  I want to do this because I want to do it.  Everyone has that bucket list of things they want to do in their life.  I put my list down on paper a few years back and completing an Ironman is right at the top of that list.  Bucket lists aside, I want to do it because it is fun.  I don’t really have any hobbies to speak of at the moment (other than making goofy faces at my daughter) and I’ve yet to make a single friend outside of work (that my wife wasn’t already friends with) since I moved to the bay area 1.5 years ago.  I want to start training again, join some clubs and make some new friends.  I want to start building my life in the Bay Area because I don’t see myself ever leaving it.

Now, the tricky part is figuring out how to make this all work together.  My initial plan is to start small and keep it fun.  So, with this, my first phase plan is as follows:

1)  Focus on Cycling.  My comeback is focused on fun, not pain, and cycling is the discipline I enjoy the most.  I’ll expand once my fitness expands (and my weight decreases).

2)  Focus on Fun.  New routes.  Riding my bike to work.  Day trips with a training ride mixed in.  Anything to get me moving on a consistent basis that I’ll enjoy.

3)  Focus on Consistency.  They say it takes about 66 days to fully form a habit.  Starting tomorrow, I’ll put in at least 30 minutes each day for the next 66 days.

4)  Focus on Life Balance.  Scheduling and creativity will be key to this, but I need to balance my life in such a way that I can continue to be a great father and attorney, while at the same time not neglecting myself.

I’ll be setting up my schedule in TrainingPeaks with these four points in mind.  I’m going to try to use this blog to help keep me accountable to myself.  If anyone out there is actually reading this, I hope you’ll hold me accountable as well.  66 days starts tomorrow.  Phase 1 here I come.  Wish me luck.

Post-It Wars and the Importance of Accountability in Training

The Great Post-It War of 2008-2009 was set off by a single act last week shortly after I arrived to work when I decided to have a little fun with one of my co-workers by posting my workout from the previous day.  Two simple entries, Swim-1:15/Bike:1:00, set three grown men into a training competition that has been played out via post-it notes and blackberry messages ever since.

I guess I should give some context to this story:  Throughout the firm I work for, there are four triathletes, including myself.  One of these individuals resides on the fourth floor and isn’t too serious about it due to injuries.  The other three, including myself, are within a twenty foot radius of each other on the second floor and we’re all in training for IM’s in 2009 (they’re both doing Coeur d’Alene).  One of them, Bob, hasn’t done an IM for several years but has done several before, and the other, Tim, did his first last year, but wasn’t happy with the result due to his run.

We had been going back and forth for the past month in pretty much the same manner: I talk about what I’ve been doing (i.e. training quite a bit) and they both talk about how they wish they had the time to train like that.  Admittedly, they both have families with small children and I’m single and have none, so I have an unfair advantage in the free time category, but I’d still been having fun razzing them (particularly Bob because he was pretty serious about it for a number of years and his dad was a pro at one point) about not being on the horse yet.  Even after Tim had started training a little more consistently, he couldn’t convince Bob to jump on the horse (more excuses).

In the end, all it took was a single post-it note from me to awaken the “Tri-Bear” within Bob.  Since that single posting we’ve been going back and forth with the post-it notes outside Bob’s office and, on the weekends or when we’re out of the office, via blackberry messages.  It has been fun going back and forth trading barbs with each other about what we did the night before even though I know that this is a competition that I’m not going to lose (I already do virtual post-it notes with my coach every day…only those post-it notes can’t inflate the volume or increase the speed with which the activities were done).

The moral of the story is that having some type of accountability to someone else will help dramatically with your consistency in training.  For me, having a coach not only helps me with scheduling my training, but it also helps inspire me get out there on those days when I’d really rather just lie in bed in the morning or grab a beer after work rather than diving into the pool  or pounding the pavement.  For Bob and Tim, it was a little intra-office competition that is bringing out the best in both of them, even over the holidays.  No matter how you choose to do it, finding a way to make yourself accountable will go a long way to improving the consistency in your training and keep you from making those little, silent bargains with yourself when the alarm goes off at 5:00 a.m. (e.g. I’ll sleep in today and I’ll do double in the pool tomorrow!  Yeah, right….)

Happy Holidays and Happy Training!

And….We’re Back….

Wow…I am such a slacker.  My last post was over three months ago but this coincided with both a trip out of town and starting my job, so I guess I have a semi-plausible excuse for having been such a slacker.  I’m going to try to post a little more consistently from here on out, but it probably won’t be with the same frequency that I was posting before I went on hiatus.  

So, what’s new on the quest to the 70.3 and beyond, you ask?  Well, I guess that question assumes anyone actually reads this blog.  That point aside, I’ll indulge myself and answer:

I’ve been working with my coach, Jim Vance, since the beginning of October and I’m currently in week three of my second base cycle (we had a couple of prep periods).  Working with Jim has been fantastic and he has made my life so much easier.  No longer do I spend hours looking over my training schedule trying to figure out if I’m doing it right or if I’m scheduling things properly.  Now, I simply log on to a website to find my workouts for the day and then upload my data after I’m done with it.

In addition to weekly scheduling, Jim has helped me set up my race schedule for next season.  Here’s the list of events I’ll be doing, with the corresponding priority of the race in parenthesis next to it (A-Most important, leave everything on the table; B-important but meant to help you build to an A; C-least important, treat as a training day)(NOTE: dates listed are the Sunday of the week of the race, not necessarily the race date…I’m just too lazy to look it up):

3.23.09     Superseal Olympic (C)

3.30.09     Oceanside 70.3 (A)

5.04.09     Lake Perris “Big Rock” Olympic(B)

6.22.09     San Diego Intl. Olympic (B)

7.13.09     Vineman 70.3 (B)

8.31.09     LA Olympic (B)

10.12.09   Austin Longhorn 70.3 (B)

11.23.09   Ironman Cozumel (A)

Quite the schedule, but I’m looking forward to it.  My running, which was one of my weaknesses last year, has improved dramatically under Jim.  Whereas last year I was going all out to post 7:30 miles, I’m currently putting up those times on my long runs in zone 2, with my fastest 5K times coming in around the 20 minute mark.  

Well I don’t want to toss out all my material in the first post back, so I’ll save a little for later.  I’m back and you can be looking forward to some more training tips in future posts.  I thought I knew quite a bit before but Jim has taught me a few things that are surprisingly simple, but highly effective.

Catching up (and a couple of race reports)

I’ve been pretty busy over the last couple of weeks and, as such, I’ve been slacking on my posts.  Since my last post, I’ve had two races, so without further ado…

Imperial Beach

The only way I can describe this race is to say that it was eerily similar to my Santa Cruz race experience, only with warmer water.  The swim started out horribly again and I couldn’t breathe (again).  I’ve decided that my wetsuit is just a bit too small in the chest area but I don’t need to address this issue until next year.

The bike leg was short, but I managed to avoid getting passed by anyone again and put up a pretty good bike time.  Nothing special, but it was much better than my swim and run times.  

I spent the first half of the run cramping (again).  I still don’t know what’s causing it, but I’m guessing I may be going to hard on the bike.  I need to work on hard bike to run transitions a bit more and hopefully this will subside.  

Overall, I finished in 1:03:53 which put me 15th out of 50 in my age group with the 8th fastest bike split in my age group.  Nothing great, but I’ll take it.

Los Angeles

After two smaller sprint races, the sheer size of this race was breathtaking.  Huge, absolutely huge, and run fantastically.

After my two sprint experiences, I decided to go without a wetsuit on the swim in the hopes that I would be able to breathe.  It worked…too bad I couldn’t swim straight.  Again, mediocre swim.

The bike leg is where I came to life on this one.  It was a 40K bike, so I had plenty of time to make up what I lost on the swim.  The course was much more difficult than I thought it would be, with a couple of pretty big hills and a few significant rolling hills.  I knew I had a bad swim, so I started to crank it on the bike.  From the beginning I was passing people and I kept doing so pretty consistently.  Again, nobody passed me on the bike.  I knew I was doing well when I started to pass quite a few people that started in wave that started ten minutes before mine.  I also passed a fellow tri club member that I knew probably had a good swim since that was his strongest event (I ended up beating him by 10 minutes on the bike).  

I was staying strong on the flats and powering up the rollers.  I can’t tell you how many people I passed on these small hills because the other people just didn’t ride them the right way.  Coming down the hill leading up to the rollers, I was popping it all the way down into my smallest cog and cranking it as hard as I could on the downhill and then slowly shifted up as I went up the hill.  I was absolutely blasting by people.

I put up a 1:08:38 on the bike which was good for 15/105 in my age group and 64th overall out of just over 800 male competitors.  The course was very fun and I wish I would have had some more time to take in the sights…it’s not every day when you get to ride down a street in Los Angeles with a street all to yourself.

The run…what can I say about the run?  Cramps?  Check.  Big f’n hill (twice)?  Check.  Not running nearly as fast as I wanted because I’ve been slacking on my run training?  Check.  It was an uneventful 10K that was very unimpressive.  I put up a 50:30 time, or about 8:10 a mile which is about 40 seconds/mile slower than I know I can average over a 10K.  I had been seriously slacking in my run training, so this isn’t really that surprising.  I’m hoping I can improve on this in OC in a few weeks.

Overall I finished 36/105 in my age group with a time of 2:36:32.  For my first olympic race, I’m pretty happy, but I know I could have done better.  If I would have run the times I know I can, I would have shaved at least five minutes off right there.  My open water swimming needs to improve as well.  Oh well, only one more event left in this season.

Riding Queen K

So I’m in Kona right now.  I actually arrived on Monday afternoon and rode Queen K (well 50 miles of it) on Tuesday morning.  It was definitely a trip to ride a road that I’ve seen so many times on television.  The only thing I could liken it to for me (a baseball fan) would be visiting a historic stadium like Yankee Stadium for the first time; you’ve seen it so many times on television, but somehow it’s just better in person.  

Queen K in and of itself is nothing spectacular; it’s just a road surrounded by lava fields (OK, the lava fields are pretty cool).  What I found most intriguing about the ride were the conditions.  They always talk about the “tricky” winds and the heat that emanates from the lava fields on the NBC Ironman coverage, but until you’ve experienced these things for yourself, the words do not adequately describe what these athletes are battling.

On the 25 miles out, I had a mild to moderate wind that was more a cross wind than a tail wind.  At times, the wind was actually turning into a headwind, so I thought I’d be facing about the same wind after I turned around.  The bushes weren’t moving too much on the way out, so I knew that the wind wasn’t that strong.  All I can say is “oh what a difference a turnaround makes.”  It was almost as if the island knew I was turning around to head back to Kona.  

The bushes that were just slightly blowing swaying in the breeze before now looked like they were about to be uprooted.  I had 25 miles ahead of me and I was going straight into a 20-30 MPH headwind.  Awesome.  I have never been in a wind like that before.  If I stopped pedaling on a downhill, I actually slowed down as though I had just stopped pedaling on an uphill–that’s how strong the wind was.  The uphills, well, let’s not talk about those.  

Overall, the ride was great though.  The heat that comes up from the lava fields is oppressive, but the winds off the coast help cool you down.  The Look 585 I rented is an amazing bike.  It would probably be at at or very close to the top of my list if I decide to buy a road bike (which I might after I start working; i really enjoyed being on a good road bike).  

Tomorrow I’m heading up to ride the upper portion of the Ironman course (i.e. the middle 50 miles).  This is the area where the crosswinds are supposed to howl.  I’m just hoping the scenery is a little more interesting (there’s only so many pictures you can take of lava fields).

Enjoying the sounds of silence

I’ve always been a person who uses an iPod while I’m working out.  Whether it’s a visit to the gym, on a run, or on the bike, I’ve always used an iPod.  Heck, if there was a decent system to use in the pool, I’d probably have one of those too.  I’ve always felt that I needed it to keep myself entertained while I was outside.

Recently, however, I’ve started to have a change of heart.  It started the week of the bar.  After the first day of the bar, I went for a run and wasn’t in the mood to listen to music.  As I was running, I started to realize that I really appreciated the silence and the serenity of being outside.  Yes, there were noises of people talking and traffic, but I can block this out pretty easily.  All I could hear was my feet hitting the ground and my breathing.

When I went on my ride in Napa, I decided to see how cycling without my iPod was.  In part, I wanted to see if I enjoyed it as much, but I also wasn’t familiar with the road and I wanted to be able to hear any big trucks coming.  I realized very, very quickly that I like riding without a iPod WAY more than I like running without one.  There’s something very peaceful about the sound of tires on the road and the chain turning on the crank.  I don’t know how to describe it, but I feel much more in the moment when I ride without music blaring in my ears.

So this has now become my protocol: I don’t ride with an iPod any more.  I’ve done my last two rides without one and have thoroughly enjoyed them both.  I realized that this has the added benefit of increasing my concentration on the bike and getting used to doing time trial efforts without music (which can affect pacing) since I can’t use an iPod in a race.  

Today, I did a 45 mile ride with a 12 mile time trial effort in the middle on the Silver Strand in Coronado.  I managed to beat my previous 30 minute average wattage by 23 watts, so I’m very happy about that.  I’m not sure if this was due to increased concentration from not having an iPod on or the fact that this effort was entirely outside whereas my previous best was done on my Computrainer, but I’m guessing the latter has more to do with it.  

So, I guess the moral of the story is that if you currently ride with an iPod, give it a shot without one.  You might find, like I did, that riding becomes all that much more enjoyable.

There’s a reason airlines are failing…

It’s not the fuel prices.  It’s not the ultra-competitive environment.  Sure, these play a factor in the equation, but they are not the end-all and be-all.  There’s a reason airlines like Southwest continue to be profitable while others like United are failing.

The reason is simple: customer service.  I had never had a problem with United until today (which is probably why I’d flown with them so much in the past).  However, today I decided for some reason to look over my itinerary for my trip to Kona at the end of the month.  As I was looking at my reservation I noticed something…I booked my trip into the wrong airport.  I’m not quite sure how this happened, but I made a mistake somehow.

In order to correct this mistake, I called United.  I’m thinking that they can just switch the flight and I might have to pay a nominal difference in the fee for the flight, if anything.  Nope.  First off, I get somebody on the phone who is half a world away in India.  I knew I was in trouble as soon as I heard this because all that will follow is policy, policy, policy.  United wanted $150 just to change the reservation and then I had to pay any difference in airfare, which was $850 because my flight is within two weeks.  WTF???  This conversation ended quickly.

Luckily I was able to book a bookend flight on a local carrier for a total of $150 and although I’m not happy about it, it was my own mistake and I’ll live with it.  What I’m annoyed about is the abysmal ”customer service” that United provided me with.  It’s annoying enough that airlines charge for everything from checking a bag to getting a blanket nowadays, but to try to charge this much just to change from one flight to another is ridiculous.  

What added cost do they have in changing from one flight to another?  None.  That’s the answer.  They aren’t losing any money by me switching from one airport in Hawaii to another 40 minutes away.  I love how everyone always gets up in arms about $200 cancellation fees over their cell phone contracts, but you never see coverage about these fees.  At least the phone cancellation fee can be justified by the fact that your phone was heavily subsidized when you got it (yes, it was…trust me…I sold phones and managed a store for several years before law school).  

So, how does this amount to a reason airlines are failing?  Simple; I’ll never fly United again.  I’ve changed flights so many times with companies like Southwest without incident and although Continental professes to charge the same fee, at least I was able to get somebody who spoke English on the line and who understood the meaning of customer service (I’ve been able to get the fee waived).  

One of these days the airlines will realize that customer service will be their downfall.  All the little fees are ticky-tacky, but whatever.  Most people I know don’t need a blanket on a flight, can bring their own drink onboard, and aren’t going to fuss too much about having to pay to check a bag.  However, when you combine all of these things with a complete disregard for providing exemplary service to your client base, you’re in for big, big trouble.  People won’t stop flying, but they’ll seek out airlines that provide them with the best experiences.  

That’s my rant.

Ironman Here I Come (well, 15 months from now…)

It’s official: I’m registered for my first Ironman.  I’ll be doing Ironman Cozumel next year which falls at about the same time as Arizona in November.  (note: the official international registration is not yet open, but I registered online before I noticed that international registration wasn’t open yet (oops) and after multiple emails, they went ahead and confirmed me.  Official international registration opens on August 19).

I have never been more excited to put myself through 10+ hours of pain.  Quite frankly, I couldn’t have designed a course that was better suited to my cycling strengths: nice and flat.  Granted, I’m sure most people prefer flat courses, but hills absolutely kill me.  At 175 pounds I’m at ~10% body fat, so the absolute lightest I could probably get would be between 165 and 170.  This is a size that is not conducive to climbing.  However, on the flats I can produce a decent speed consistently over long distances.

In addition to the course layout, I decided to go with Cozumel for a couple of other reasons:

1) Easy registration.  No trekking out to Arizona, paying for two nights in a hotel and spending a day off volunteering just to be able to register the next day.  Nope, just pay the money: nice and simple.  The money I’m saving by not having to travel to Arizona this year to volunteer paid for my registration fee to Cozumel.  

2) Location, Location, Location.  No matter where I was headed, I’d probably end up using a few days of vacation time both before and after the race.  Now, let’s see…Tempe, Arizona or Cozumel, Mexico?  Desert and cacti or beaches and palm trees?  Swim in the Tempe river or the Gulf of Mexico?  That’s a close one, but I think I’ll go with Cozumel.  

The only downside will be getting my bike to Mexico on the plane.  I’m probably going to end up buying a large hard travel case specifically for this race, but it will come in handy for any other races I travel to as well.  

On a related note, I’ve decided to procure the services of a coach on this adventure.  I’m thinking that this is something that I should not attempt to self-coach.  I know that I could do it, but I want to do well and I think having a coach will be valuable.  I haven’t decided on a coach yet, but as of now I’m leaning towards Jim Vance.  He’s a professional triathlete based out of San Diego.  I went to one of his swim clinics about a month back and I was very impressed with his level of knowledge.  I’ll post more on this in about a month or so.  I’m not going to start the coaching services until October since I’ll be done with all my events by then.